


Found Family, Family Found

by VanamesGurl



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 5+1, M/M, There will be more chapters dw, always have been, and now i will don my clown nose and jesters hat, at LEAST a mention of kosmo, bc how can you not, keith is gonna have some love and he DOES have a family, probably i just havent put in in yet, there may be klance, wait shiro adam and matt were keiths family?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:00:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28926924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanamesGurl/pseuds/VanamesGurl
Summary: Five teams Keith thinks back on his tiny found family at the Galaxy Garrison, and one time he realized he'd already found another.----------------------------Keith gapes at Matt in betrayal. "What, you want me to take the fall for you?"Matt grins, frantically adjusting his glasses as they run. "We're a team, right buddy? We gotta stick together, man!""How is it sticking together if I take the fall?" Keith demands, fighting the urge to laugh.Matt looks solemn suddenly. "You're right, Keith the Kid. Remember me as Holt, his Hotness Supreme, always. And good luck."Before Keith can react, Matt spins around and opens his arms, catching Shiro off guard enough that he can't slow in time, and the two go tumbling to the ground in a tangle of limbs.Keith slows, reluctant to abandon his ridiculous partner, and winces in sympathy. He hurries to help drag Matt away as Shiro shakes his head in confusion, but is snatched up by Adam before he can. As they get dragged back to the apartment, Matt grins at Keith from where he's been thrown over Shiro's shoulder."Thanks for turning back for me, kid. You're a damn fine teammate."
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Hunk & Keith (Voltron), Keith & Lance (Voltron), Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 77





	Found Family, Family Found

**Author's Note:**

> first chapter is set early on so pidge is still going by he/him pronouns from keith's PoV but that will change as time goes on ofc

No matter what Shiro said, Keith was not a big stick in the mud, thank you very much. He just didn't quite understand why Lance insisted on flirting with every last alien they came across, or why Hunk insisted on having deep sentimental interactions with at least one alien per planet. He also wasn't sure why Pidge would often betray him to go exploring with the other two when they were supposed to be gathering samples of the native fauna for Coran, but. Well. Here he was, alone with four little contraptions he wasn't really sure how to use, surrounded by various black and purple plants, listening grumpy to the sound of his team goofing off in the distance.

Look, he wasn't a stick in the mud, okay? He just... liked getting the work done first. If the work was done, it was easier to relax. Grumbling about immature teammates, he continued collecting some of the tiny green berries to put in the sphere. Despite his best efforts, he could still catch the occasional tidbit from his supposed team as they messed around.

"Okay, okay," Pidge sounded breathless with laughter when he spoke. "Now, take that branch.... no, to the left!"

"I have built many... uh, things, in my time, Pidgeon! I know where to put the branch, have a little faith!" Lance. Keith rolled his eyes and muttered "Have a little faith!" mockingly under his breath.

Hunk's voice was too quiet to make out, but he sounded worried as usual. Keith paused in his berry gathering to take a break. This planet was humid and sweltering, very unlike the dry heat he had known in the desert on earth. He took his helmet off to try to wipe away some of the sweat gathering on his brow, before glumly taking a seat on the (orange, for some reason he didn't care enough to know) dirt beneath him.

He tried to focus on the ache in his lower back from bending down constantly to gather various berries and leaves in a hope to ignore the ache in his heart. He had never been able to connect with his peers on earth, and had foolishly hoped that would have changed in space. On his better days, he'd figure that he'd bond well enough with Hunk, Lance, and Pidge through teamwork and a shared goal.

On his darker days, he figured Stockholm Syndrome would have to kick in eventually, right?

With a firm shake of his head to dislodge those thoughts, he gets back to his feet and prepares to pick more leaves and berries, his helmet back in place. Before he can, however, he heard the sound of several branches breaking and a shout from Lance and Hunk.

Fearing the worst, he takes off in their direction, fear spiking through him. He gets to them in mere moments, bursting through the treeline of a clearing in time to see the two larger boys fish Pidge out from a large stack of wood. Keith thinks back to what he'd overheard of their conversation and figured it must have once been a fort, but had clearly collapsed with Pidge on top.

Hunk carefully sets Pidge down clear of the woodpile, where Pidge slowly lays down and groans dramatically. Lance, surveying the pile, hums thoughtfully. He turns to Hunk, about to speak, when he catches sight of Keith.

"Holy shit, Keith!" Lance definitely does NOT squeal, looking startled. Hunk and Pidge both start as well, whipping around to face him. "What's the deal, man? Gonna fight a pile of sticks?"

Keith scowls in confusion, lowering his fighting stance. "I-no-what? That doesn't make sense."

"Well, why else would you have your sword out?" Lance challenges, trying to cover up his embarrassment.

Keith sheaths his blade as he walks a little closer to them. "I heard the branches break and you guys yelling. I, uh.. thought there might be danger."

As he speaks, he finds he can't stand to look at their confused faces. Without his sword, he doesn't know what to do with his hands or arms and can't quite fight the urge to cross his arms. He does manage to stop from fidgeting, but only barely. Stop being so awkward. Just stand normally. Am I making a weird face? Just look normal. Don't bite your lip. Don't glare. Stop glaring. Okay now we're glaring, I guess. Fuck, this is why I hate people.

"Coran said this planet was safe before we left the ship," Pidge reminded him.

"Well, what was i supposed to think!" Keith snaps, grumpy now. Why did they have to tease him? He was the only one doing the work, which he so kindly stopped in order to help them. "We're on a foreign planet and I hear you guys screaming, what else was I supposed to do?!"

"Chill, man, no one's mad." Lance says, moving his hands in a soothing way, like Keith was a feral cat or something. He tried not to visibly bristle but wasn't quite sure how well he managed. Judging by the other's expressions as they seemed to brace themselves, he didn't do too well.

Nervously, Hunk interfered. "Keith! Thanks so much for helping with the samples! The samples that we will more than happily finish gathering for you, dear companion of ours!" Pidge and Lance eagerly nodded.

Keith fought to keep his scowl from deepening. Of course they only wanted to work when he was already done with his share. He didn't think he was THAT bad of company, but obviously not. Trying to keep a neutral expression, he tossed Hunk the remaining three spheres and turned to go. As he did, however, Pidge suddenly cried out in pain.

He'd attempted to stand before collapsing again, causing Keith, Hunk, and Lance to crowd him in worry. Pidge looked up at them all and scowled. "I twisted my ankle when the fort collapsed."

Lance and Hunk looked at each other in worry as Pidge continued. "I'll have to go into a healing pod when we get back..."

Lance picked up where he trailed off, looking very worried. "Which means you can't collect the samples. Which means this takes way longer than it was supposed to."

"Which means Shiro will know something happened. Which means we get in trouble when he finds out." Hunk jumps in, nervously biting his lip.

Pidge and Lance look at each other before Pidge suggests, "Or, or, hear me out - we don't tell Shiro what happened and instead say I tripped?"

Hunk whirls to face him, looking frantic, "Lie?! To Shiro? He's basically our boss! We can't LIE to our boss! Do you have any idea how terrible that would look on a resume? Not to mention I can't keep a secret! He'll raise his eyebrow at me and you KNOW I'll break! Have you met me? Honestly, I'm offended you'd even think that I'd be able to keep a secret! Do you even know me? Are we even friends?!"

"Hunk!" Lance shouts, waving his hands to get his friends attention as Keith watches in bemusement. "Okay, we won't lie! We'll...uh.."

Keith watches him flounder for a plan and tries not to care. They're not his friends, they've made that clear enough. They're teammates. They're teammates who left him to do the work alone. They're teammates that left him out of their fort building. They're just a team.

_ "We're a team, right buddy? We gotta stick together, man!" _ Like an echo, the voice full of laughter surfaces from his memory and gives him pause. Where had that come from? He thinks on it for a moment before it hits him.

_ He's supposed to be in his dorm, but his roommate was being a dick. As usual. He's only twelve, but he feels so much younger as he keeps trying to wipe his eyes. He knows he's different from his roommate. He doesn't like too much noise, he doesn't like the blankets they have to use, and he doesn't like when his classmates try to touch him in any way. He doesn't need the constant reminder that he's different in other ways, too. So what if he doesn't like girls? Thats no one's business but his own. _

_ Even if his stupid roommate felt like their entire class should know, and took it upon himself to text everyone. _

_ He sobs, careful to keep quiet, as he hides in the smelly janitors closet. He's always hated the smell of cleaning supplies, but it wasn't like the Garrison had rooms set aside for young, gay teens to cry in. _

_ Suddenly, the door bursts open and none other than Matt Holt rushes in. His arms are full of cookies and ice cream, obviously stolen from the kitchen, and he lets the door close quickly behind him. He grins triumphantly before freezing and looking down at where Keith is curled up on the ground, looking at him. _

_ For a moment, they just stare at each other, dumbfounded. A crumb slowly falls from Matt's face. Keith feels his tears drying on his. Matt blinks but Keith stares. Finally, Matt breaks the silence. _

_ "So, you having a ‘coming-of-age-moment’ in here or what?" _

Keith shakes the memory off and clears his throat. His panicking teammates look at him, still in a panic. "Look, I can take Pidge to get his ankle fixed while you two do the rest of the gathering. I already started on another when...this all happened, so it shouldn't be too hard. I can sneak us in and out before Shiro and the princess get back from their mission, and Coran won't notice either..."

Keith trails off as the others just gape at him, open-mouthed. Worried he'd overstepped, he stammers, "or, you know-its uh-I'm not-we don't-"

"Keith," Lance thankfully cuts him off, "you're a genius."

"A life saver." Hunk adds, beaming.

"My personal hero." Pidge nods, solemn.

"You guys are so weird." Keith whispers, looking at their internet expressions.

"Okay, no time to waste!" Lance declares, clapping his hands together once. "Pidge, you'll piggyback on Keith, Hunk and I will gather everything faster than you can say quizzlesnorbelick, and we'll reconvene at the forest's entry point near the ship. Go, team, go!"

With surprising efficiency, Pidge is hoisted onto Keith's back and the Yellow and Blue Paladins rush into the trees to begin gathering their own samples. Keith blinks in surprise before shaking his head. "Okay, well. That happened."

From his back, he feels Pidge nod in agreement. "Sure did, buddy. Now, let's get this show on the road! Hiyah!"

"Did you just try to 'hyah' me? Like a horse?" Keith asks, deadpan.

"...no sir?" Pidge says, meekly, trying to curl into himself without losing his grip on Keith's shoulders.

"Right." With this, Keith starts his long trek back to the castle, already cursing himself for volunteering to do more physical labor in the dreadful heat.

They make their way through the alien forest in silence, and Keith allows his mind to wander.

_ "I don't know how to respond to that." Keith grumbles, still staring at Matt. _

_ Matt shrugs and settles to the ground next to him. "I guess that's fair. I don't think anyone really knows when they're going through their coming of age moment until later. Cookie?" _

_ Keith hesitates before accepting the cookie and with it an ice cream cup. Silently, they eat Matt's horde of cookies and ice cream, and Keith feels a little bit better. He'd missed dinner, and the cookies did a pretty decent job of filling him up. _

_ After eating the bounty, Matt wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and sighs, content. "Well, that was good. Now I'm all sugared up for phase two." _

_ "...phase two?" Keith asks quietly, once Matt doesn't elaborate. _

_ "Yeah, man. Shiro and Adam are out for the weekend, and I'm watering their plants while they're gone. They're supposed to come back today, but not for another few hours. I'm gonna make an  _ awesome _ couch fort in their living room." Matt stands up, brushing crumbs off his person as he does. _

_ Keith peers up at him, wary. "Shiro and Adam have a small couch. There's no way you can build a whole fort out of it." _

_ "Au contraire mon frère," Matt shakes his head, a mischievous smile on his lips. "I am an expert in all things fort related. I've made blanket forts, pillow forts, and more couch forts than you've ever  _ seen _. I can do it." _

_ "I really don't think you can." Keith argues, fighting to keep a smile off his face. _

_ Matt, catching the twitch of his lips, smacked his fist into his open palm, still smiling. "Of course! I'll prove it to you! Come on, up you get. We've gotta get there before too long if we wanna have enough time to build the fort. We'll be team Holt the Hotstuff and Keith the kid!" _

_ "That's a terrible team name!" Keith protests, scrambling to his feet. Matt shushes him as he checks to see if the coast is clear before the two of them scurry out of the closet and into the hall. _

_ "Not now, Keith the Kid! We've got to make haste!" Matt grabs Keith's wrist and begins hurrying them through the halls. "Hyah! Let's go!" _

_ For the first time in a few days, Keith laughs, feeling light. He'd been missing Shiro and Adam so much, he'd forgotten all about his other friend. Though, to be fair, he hadn't been sure until now that he and Matt were friends or mere acquaintances. He finds that he’s very glad to have a friend in the bespectacled prodigy. _

In the present, Keith is shaken from his reminiscing by Pidge clearing his throat. "Uh, Keith?"

"Yeah?" He asks, taking a moment to study their path. The trail forks,, to the left and to the right. He sees the knick he'd carved into a tree to his left earlier that day, and heads down that direction. Pidge continues speaking.

"Thanks for helping us. And me. I know I'm not that light-I mean, I'm lighter than the rest of you. But like I can still be heavy, I have mass. I'm not self conscious about it or anything, like I'm not trying to fish for compliments, I'm just saying I can be a bit heavy and it's hot out and that doesn't help - not that I don't think you're strong enough to carry me! I just-"

"Pidge," Keith cuts him off, "It's fine. We're a team."

He feels his teammate relax a bit, and enjoys the brief silence before he speaks again. "Still. I know you're not really fond of messing around or goofing off or whatever, so it's really nice of you to have our backs even when we do."

Keith pauses for a moment and thinks back to that night, all those years ago. He remembers laughing til his cheeks hurt as Matt tried to build something out of the five cushions of Shiro and Adam's couch, clearly out of his depth. He recalls shrieking in surprise when they'd been caught red-handed, standing in the middle of the destroyed living room.

He can almost see Matt's shocked expression as Shiro menacingly approached, Adam at his back. The burst of adrenaline that filled him as he'd grabbed Matt's hand, shouted "Run!" and led the way into the corridor with his other friends hot on his heels.

"I like goofing off." He says it softly, a small smile on his lips. Pidge makes an inquisitive sound, so he elaborates a little as he walks. Anything to keep his mind off the humidity and his exhaustion.

"When I was a new cadet, I had some friends. They were pretty cool... probably because they were Shiro's friends first. But they were nice to me and taught me a bunch of stuff. Not just about, like, school, or whatever, but just a bunch of ridiculous things. I was twelve years old the first time I slid down a hallway in my socks."

"What!" Pidge gasps, obviously horrified by the news. Keith chuckles as he continues.

"Yeah, I know. We had kind of pissed off Shiro, so we were running from him..."

_ Keith lets out a whoop of delight as he rounds the corner, Matt at his side. Despite his longer legs, Keith was keeping up just fine. Behind them, he hears Shiro shout for them to stop but neither slows. They keep running, taking the corners easily by sliding around them once Matt shows Keith how. _

_ As they run, Matt's breathing starts coming in wheezes and Keith realizes Shiro is gaining on them. Matt seems to draw the same conclusion and gasps, "He'll take it easy on you, man!" _

_ Keith gapes at Matt in betrayal. "What, you want me to take the fall for you?" _

_ Matt grins, frantically adjusting his glasses as they run. "We're a team, right buddy? We gotta stick together, man!" _

_ "How is it sticking together if I take the fall?" Keith demands, fighting the urge to laugh. _

_ Matt looks solemn suddenly. "You're right, Keith the Kid. Remember me as Holt, his Hotness Supreme always. And good luck." _

_ Before Keith can react, Matt spins around and opens his arms, catching Shiro off guard enough that he can't slow in time, and the two go tumbling to the ground in a tangle of limbs. _

_ Keith slows, reluctant to abandon his ridiculous partner, and winces in sympathy. He hurries to help drag Matt away as Shiro shakes his head in confusion, but is snatched up by Adam before he can. As they get dragged back to the apartment, Matt grins at Keith from where he's been thrown over Shiro's shoulder. _

_ "Thanks for turning back for me, kid. You're a damn fine teammate." _

"And then Shiro made us clean his living room, but it was still fun. He had a good choice in friends." Keith muses, smiling faintly. 

Pidge is shaking with laughter on his back. "No way! Shiro chased you guys through the halls of the garrison?! That's insane! I can't believe he'd chase you - hell, I can't believe you'd run!"

Keith smiles fully now, glad to have made his companion laugh. "I told you, I like to mess around. Just not when there's work to be done."

"Thats crazy, man. I can't even picture you as a little kid. Just... maybe a smaller version of you." Pidge chuckles.

"Isn't that what all kids are? A small version of their future selves?" Keith wonders, tilting his head.

"I guess so." Pidge pauses to mull this over for a few moments before asking, "oh! Who were your friends? Did we know them?"

Before Keith can answer, they come upon the ship and have to hurry inside. Then it's a blur of putting him in a pod for a little bit, hiding from Coran, then sneaking back out just in time to meet Hunk and Lance near the treeline. It's perfectly timed, too, and they approach the ship just as the Black Lion enters the atmosphere.

* * *

Later that night, after another goo dinner and much needed shower, Keith is making his way to his room when he hears Pidge call his name. He turns to see him standing at the end of the hallway behind him, Hunk and Lance at his side. The three are grinning mischievously at him. The sight reminds him of an old friend and it makes his heart ache for the closest thing to home he'd ever known.

He doesn't get the chance to linger on the pain for long, as Pidge holds up a pair of red socks and wriggles his eyebrows at him. Keith glances down to see that they all have color coded socks, and feels a smile grow. Delighted, he rushes forward and joins in their mischief.

(Later, Shiro and Coran burst into the hallway to see four of the five Paladins of Voltron in a tangled heap on the ground, laughing and groaning in equal measure. Coran looks to Shiro, waiting to see if this is typical earthling behavior or something to be worried about. Shiro doesn't notice, of course.

He's too busy watching his brother laughing with his friends. Shiro smiles and shakes his head, before leaving with Coran.)

(And, if the Princess of Altea joins her paladins with a pair of her own pink socks, and all five agree to hide her inclusion from Shiro and Coran, well. No one needs to know, surely.)

**Author's Note:**

> *wakes up like its 2016 and frantically types out this chapter like im possessed*  
> holy shit amirite  
> anyway thank you so much for reading! I have no idea what sparked this since i've had the outline itself in my drafts for like 2 years without touching it. so ig we'll see where this goes  
> please leave a comment with anything you wanna see, and feel free to leave kudos as well since i use both to feed my motivation.
> 
> so far i intend to have a movie night where we get more Hunk backstory, a bit of good old fashioned k&l rivalry, my best attempt at writing krolia, and at least one group hug. So. yay


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